The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is being strongly opposed by most of the North Eastern (NE) states. Ahead of the visit by Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to Shillong the Meghalaya government announced its opposition to the bill. Strangely the government of Arunachal is maintaining stoic silence over the issue. So far they have not made their stand clear which worries the citizen of state. The political leaders of Arunachal have the terrible habit of bowing down to the dictates of Delhi. The BJP government at centre along with its ideological mentor RSS strongly backs the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Major chunk of Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who have settled in states like Assam and West Bengal are BJP supporters.
The party wants to pay back by ensuring citizenship for them. The RSS supports bill as it is working towards safeguarding interest of the Hindu community. Its support for bill is only on religious line. However the bill is a big threat to North Eastern states. Majority of Bangladeshi refugees be it Hindu or Buddhist have been dumped in NE states by the government of India. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will pave the way for granting citizenship right to Chakma-Hajong refugees settled in the state. Therefore state government should vociferously oppose the implementation of this bill. The BJP leaders of Arunachal will have to take lead role in opposing the bill. They should rise above party line and tell its central leaders that Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is against the interest of the indigenous tribal population of state.